Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Pictogram System: Fit all symbols to a square frame with matched margins and optical center
- Type
- Set in Pictogram System's manner (Draw every mark on one grid and stroke weight, human proportions shared), and let Schematic Transit Diagram's lettering (Set station names at one constant angle in a single face and size) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Pictogram System's material (Single color silhouettes, minimum size and viewing distance decided first); bring in exactly one thing from Schematic Transit Diagram (One color per line, white circles for interchanges, plain background behind).
- Colour
- Build on #ffffff, #005bab, #111111 and admit one accent from #fbf5dd, #e52d3f, #245196.
Where they fight
- Pictogram System and Schematic Transit Diagram both belong to Information Design, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Pictogram System Drawing each mark as a picture lets stroke and proportion drift, the set stops reading as a system, and meanings swap at a distance.
- Schematic Transit Diagram Trying to keep a little geographic accuracy breaks the angle rule, and the diagram ends up neither accurate nor easy to read.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Pictogram System (style, 1964–) and their accent from Schematic Transit Diagram (layout, 1933–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Pictogram System exists for: guiding visitors of many languages through a venue without words, or turning facility or sport categories into marks legible from a distance. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Pictogram System - Geometrized human figures - Uniform stroke weight - Consistency as a system - Independence from language Composition: Fit all symbols to a square frame with matched margins and optical center. Type and lettering: Draw every mark on one grid and stroke weight, human proportions shared. ## Accent comes from Schematic Transit Diagram, used sparingly - Lines limited to 45 degrees - Evenly spaced stations - Color-coded lines - Independence from geography Let one material quality come from it: One color per line, white circles for interchanges, plain background behind. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #ffffff, carry the structure in #005bab and #111111, and let a single accent come from #e52d3f. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, technique, intimacy, calm. ## Where they fight - Pictogram System and Schematic Transit Diagram both belong to Information Design, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Pictogram System: Drawing each mark as a picture lets stroke and proportion drift, the set stops reading as a system, and meanings swap at a distance. - Schematic Transit Diagram: Trying to keep a little geographic accuracy breaks the angle rule, and the diagram ends up neither accurate nor easy to read. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Pictogram System 1964– / Style / Information Design
Unified symbol systems that name facilities and actions without language. Tokyo 1964 systematized sport and wayfinding symbols; the AIGA/DOT transportation set became the public-domain world standard.
- Schematic Transit Diagram 1933– / Layout / Information Design
Discards geographic accuracy for horizontal, vertical and 45-degree lines with evenly spaced stations. Beck's 1933 London Underground diagram established it as the common language of transit maps worldwide.
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